


Elements

by cepzia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ... thats probably been done before, Elemental AU, Gen, i dont know how to tag this help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-04-18 04:12:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14204778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cepzia/pseuds/cepzia
Summary: The Paladins of Voltron have sacred connections to their Lion and their Lion’s element. The new Paladins don’t know this, and just assume they’re superheroes, or freaks. But they’ll learn, just give it time.





	1. Wood

You might think so, but the best time to find out you can control plants is _not_ when you’re in the woods. Ask Katie, she knows from experience.

She was getting away from the annoying people of the world when she tripped over a root in the ground. She fell on her face, which is _just great_.

She was trying to stand from that embarrassing and rather painful event when she realized she couldn’t. And that something was snaking up her legs.

She freaked out and looked to her legs and found the oak roots she tripped over wrapping itself around her ankles. _What?_

She pushed away, but it wouldn’t budge. She pulled her legs with her arms, but still, nothing. No untangling the roots, no smacking it until they budged, no trying to bend down and bite it free, nothing.

“C’mon, let me go you _Quercus_ ,” she muttered to the roots, and like magic, it untangled from her now dirt stained overall pants and she was free.

“Huh?” She looked back to the roots, which had returned to normal.

“Can you… hear me?” she asked, placing a hand beside the roots. It- they?- crawled back out to wrap around her hand, like they were holding hands.

“Woah.”

<~•~>

That was really only the beginning. Katie kept going out and doing more with her newfound connection to plants. She could make them grow and un-grow to her will, sprout tiny plants by placing any bare skin to the ground (usually a hand or foot but she’s tried using her face and it works), and feel their energy around her when she was in the center of them all.

And the best part is she now sees these plants have minds of their own. They’re living, breathing things that do what they want. Katie can’t make them do anything she wants to at any time, but she asks nicely and they’ll comply so she can try making certain things grow in certain directions. It’s like a dance. You may be able to dance well, but you can’t show it until you ask someone to join you. And this dance is starting to be to her favorite song.

And when she asked nicely she did little fun things like easily climb the trees by holding onto a un-growing branch and riding it up. And it’s when she’s sitting in a tree that something strange happens.

She felt a- _something_ \- flow through her with as much energy and life as the plants around her. Her surprise to feeling it almost makes her fall out of the tree, but she grips the branch she’s sitting on.

The energy keeps flowing, and eventually focuses on her left arm. She looked to her arm in confusion, and almost fell out of the tree again when she sees a small lioness crawl down through the skin of her arm.

Upon closer inspection she sees it’s- she’s?- a tattoo, curled up on the back of her hand.

Katie got out of the tree, wanting to see if this lioness would affect her powers at all. So she tried using that hand to make plants grow, and nothing was wrong. Everything was working how it was, and Katie didn’t feel different or anything, so what _is_ this little green lioness doing on her hand?

As if to answer Katie’s question, the lioness stood and crawled back up her arm. Katie watched with curiosity as she disappeared under Katie’s sleeve and reappeared as she crawled down her collarbone, only to rest over her heart.

Before Katie could ask anything, the lioness started purring, and Katie felt that same energy again. She closed her eyes and let herself feel it, and she got a message through emotions given to her, and it was only one word: _Green_.

She opened her eyes and gasped after realizing she had been holding her breath.

This living tattoo seemed to give her a message, but she didn’t know what it meant.

 _You’ll figure this out eventually,_ she told herself, and smiled as her tattoo crawled back down her arm to her hand. It was weird, but not bad.

<~•~>

Katie was too busy practicing her powers along with her connection to her tattoo (which she named Green after the lioness’s fur color) to know someone was watching her until he spoke her name.

“Katie?” Matt asked in surprise, walking through the trees to see his sister magically making plants grow.

Katie whipped her head around, eyes wide and mouth closed. She dearly wished no one- him included- would see this. It was too weird, _she_ was too weird.

“What are you doing?” Matt asked, stepping closer. Katie didn’t move, and the branch she was reaching out to held her hand like the root the very first time.

“Uhm… taking a walk in the woods?” Katie tried, knowing he wouldn’t buy it.

“This,” Matt said, gesturing to the branch holding Katie’s hand and the root curling around her ankle. “What is this?”

And Katie sees it on his face; he’s freaking out on the inside, and he’ll start screaming and blubbering nonsense when he isn’t rooted (pun intended) to the spot. So she leans over with her free hand, and slaps a hand over his mouth the second before he goes crazy.

And Green thinks that this is the _perfect_ time to crawl down arm to the hand now covering Matt’s mouth. Matt watched her with wide eyes as she landed on the top of her hand.

“Matt,” Katie began, “I don’t need you screaming, so I’m covering your mouth. I’ll explain everything, but you need to promise me not to freak out or scream or tell anyone. Do you promise?”

Matt nodded with still wide eyes, Katie moved her hand away and leaned back, and he began speaking immediately.

“Now explain. What am I seeing?” He gestured to the plants still wrapped around her.

“One day I figured out I could control plants,” Katie started, and Matt’s You think? face made her want to laugh. “Well, control isn’t the right word for it. I can make them grow and stuff, but they have a mind of their own.”

“What?” Matt asked, eyebrows impossibly high and tilting his head slightly, looking like a mix between someone in shock and someone who misheard someone.

“Yeah,” Katie said, not knowing what else to say. The plants untangled from her hand and ankle and went back to how they were.

“When did you figure this out?” he asked.

“Two weeks ago,” she answered, holding her hands behind her back.

“Two weeks?” Matt asked, looking to the ground and turning around, a hand on the side of his head. “Fourteen days? 336 hours? All that time…”

Then he turned around with a small smile. “…and you didn’t tell me?”

Katie smiled, then it turned into a frown as she looked down. “I don’t know, I was worried people would see and treat me like a freak or something.” She knew he was joking, but a little voice in her mind has been chanting _You’re a freak!_ ever since she got these powers, and it’s been bothering her.

“Hey,” Matt said, stepping closer and placing a hand on each of her shoulders. “You’re not a freak. This is super cool. You can talk to plants, and make them grow, you have a magic lion tattoo for God’s sake! It’s like you’re a superhero!”

“I don’t know, i just don’t want anyone to know,” Katie said, still not looking up at him.

“I won’t tell anyone, but you shouldn’t hate a part of you that makes you unique,” Matt said, and she finally looked up, a small smile creeping onto her lips.

“Thanks.” She was so happy he knew now, and that she isn’t a freak to him. He’s her brother, and while they fight a lot, she’s used to telling him everything. So these past two weeks have been a hell and a half. Now it’s over, and she can’t figure this out with someone.

“But, can I see again?” Matt asked, looking at her with curiosity and hope on his face. He removed his arms from her shoulders and crossed them across his chest.

“Yeah, come here,” Katie said waving him over as she faced the tree behind her. Matt was quick to stand next to her.

“Now they have minds of their own, so-“

“They?” Matt interrupted.

“The plants,” Katie said, “They have minds of their own, so I can’t make them do anything, but I can make them grow if I ask them beforehand.”

“Cool,” Matt said, smiling. “Now show me.”

Katie chuckled at his enthusiasm, and reached out to the tree with her mind, asking permission. When she got a positive response, she made a branch reach down to her hand, and she held it, and it held her hand back.

“Woah, that’s so cool,” Matt said.

“Yeah,” she said, and the branch unwrapped from her hand as she took Matt’s. The branch wrapped around his hand, and he gasped.

“Cool,” he said, dragging out the vowels.

“I know right?” Katie said.

<~•~>

As Katie figured out more about her powers and Green, she told everything to Matt, and they speculated what could happen. Her powers and tattoo didn’t really change much, but she took note of how she was learning how to do things better and how to be sneaky in public with it. It’s really a convenient coincidence that her class is doing a biology unit with of labs full of work with real plants.

But luckily she was at home when the next big thing happened. She was in Matt’s room, on his bed, and he was next to her with his one of their mom’s potted plants in his lap. Katie was making it grow and shrink as he carefully watched what happened. She would poke him occasionally, and he’d swat at her leg rather than he leaf tickling his nose, and she’d laugh. 

“Is Green glowing?” Matt asked suddenly, pointing to her hand, and she looked down to see Green had moved from below her left shoulder (her favorite spot) to the back of her left hand, and was indeed glowing a pastel green.

“That’s never happened before,” Katie said, watching as the glow increased with concern. The weird feeling she felt when Green had first appeared was back, and the glow soon was so bright it was actually emitting light. She couldn’t see anything around her hand up to her elbow.

A moment later, the glow was gone, and Katie was able to see-

“Woah,” Matt said.

Woah indeed. Katie’s tattoo was gone, and in her place was a slender, green cat sitting next to Katie’s hand.

Katie lifted her hand and petting the cat’s head. She purred, and Katie recognized it immediately.

“It’s Green,” she said, smiling dumbly. What? How?

“Wait, what?” Matt said, looking from Katie to Green to Katie again. “Really?”

“Yeah, I recognize her purring,” Katie said, continuing to pet the cat.

“That’s so weird,” Matt said, moving the plant in his lap to the floor.

“Imagine being connected to all this,” Katie said, dropping her hand back into her lap.

“Crazy,” Matt mumbled, staring at the cat.

“Yeah,” Katie said, watching Green, and she was staring right back. She would’ve been uncomfortable if it wasn’t for the fact that she had a connection to her, and it was like they’d known each other for their whole lives.

“I’m guessing you can do something weird and cool that freaks me out, huh?” Matt asked Green leaning forward in her face.

Green stood and jumped of the bed, and Katie looked to see Matt narrow his eyes before looking back to Green.

Green sat down in the middle of the floor, looked to the siblings, then closed her eyes and began to glow again. Only this time, it wasn’t a glow that radiated light, it was a glow that made her look like she was a cat shaped white spot. Then the shape changed and grew until it stopped and she stopped glowing, only she wasn’t a cat anymore.

“A lion!?” Matt hissed.

“Woah,” Katie said. A green lioness was really sitting on the floor of her brother’s bedroom. And it was still her Green, she could just tell.

“Katie you’re definitely a superhero,” Matt said, looking at his sister, but she was focused on Green.

She sat up and got off the bed, walking over to the lioness. “Hey Green,” she said softly, because she felt if she was too loud Matt would start screaming in shock again, or they parents would come upstairs and see this, which would be bad.

The lioness said nothing, and Katie held a hand over her head. Then Green leaned into her hand, softly purring to tell her _It’s alright, no need to worry_.

Katie began laughing as she pet the lioness, and Matt was soon standing next to her, eyes wide.

“Katie this is freakish,” Matt said.

“You wanna pet her, don’t you?” Katie said, smirking.

“I mean of course I wanna pet her, but you seem to be missing the point. There is currently a giant green lion in our house, and you have no problem with it.”

“Matt, two and a half weeks ago I found out I could talk to plants and make make them grow, then I got a magical tattoo a week after that. Now that tattoo just turned into a cat, then a lioness. I’m used to freakish now,” Katie said, looking into Matt eyes. “So hush up and pet my lioness, because you need to learn how to go with the flow.”

Matt stared at his sister before chuckling and petting Green, who seemed to love the attention. “When did you get like this?”

“Somewhere between the plant powers and the tattoo,” Katie said, smiling at Matt before smiling down at Green, and she could see the returning smile in her eyes.

So yeah, at first Katie didn’t understand the Green message, and she still doesn’t, but she knows she will soon. For starters, green is the color of life, renewal, nature, and energy, right? And lions symbolize strength and courage. That has to mean something.

 _But that’s for another time,_ she thought.


	2. Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has had hydrokinesis since he was a baby. No one else in his family did though. He was told stories of him at the dinner table with his family, giggling happily as all the drinks rose out of their glasses, then splashing down and soaking the table. His parents wondered how he could do this, and still don’t know, but they decided to keep this knowledge private, as they didn’t know what could happen to their hydrokinetic son if people found out.
> 
> So they told Lance to keep his talent a secret. When he asked, they told him he was like a superhero, and needed to hide his secret identity. Lance’s four year old self, being the superhero lover he is, gladly agreed to keep the secret.
> 
> (feat. Lance's siblings!!)

Lance concentrated on his glass of milk, more importantly, the milk inside. He focused on it rising up and up and up, and it eventually did that. He was celebrating his small victory when-

“Leandro, no practicing at the table,” his mother scolded. Lance sighed, and the liquid dropped back into the glass smoothly. It was easier to control it when gravity was on his side.

“I’m not hurting anyone,” Lance said. And he really wasn’t. He had nothing better to do as his older siblings and parents talked about gross old people stuff.

“It’s impolite,” his mother said, then resumed talking about something stupid with his father. His siblings seemed interested, so he just kept eating.

Lance has had hydrokinesis since he was a baby. No one else in his family did though. He was told stories of him at the dinner table with his family, giggling happily as all the drinks rose out of their glasses, then splashing down and soaking the table. His parents wondered how he could do this, and still don’t know, but they decided to keep this knowledge private, as they didn’t know what could happen to their hydrokinetic son if people found out.

So they told Lance to keep his talent a secret. When he asked, they told him he was like a superhero, and needed to hide his secret identity. Lance’s four year old self, being the superhero lover he is, gladly agreed to keep the secret.

But there were a few close calls, and Lance quickly learned from his mistakes, but that didn’t stop him from what he was doing now.

He was pretty far under the waves, and anyone else would have to go back up for air about five minutes ago. But not him. Well, he does have the strange ability to hold his breath longer than most, but that’s not what he means.

He had shifted the water around him to give a clear bubble of air, and he had a little while before he used all the oxygen in it. So he explored deep down, where the fish knew there were less people. Bright colors and flashing scales greeted him, and he wanted to pet them. (He’s already tried, they don’t like it). Instead, he did something he really liked doing.

Now, most people would float to the top of the sea if laying flat down, but not Lance. He was able to bend the rules of physics when underwater, and he sank to the sand at the bottom. His knees were against his chest, and he watched all the people floating at the surface.

Then he felt a weird tingly feeling flow through him as steady and fast as a river. He focused on his right leg, where the feeling was strongest, and a small lioness crawled over his skin to the top of his thigh from the bottom.

“What!?” he exclaimed, his voice sounding weird from his “helmet.” His wrinkled fingers traced over the tattoo(?) and it moved up his thigh, up his hip, his stomach, until it rested on his chest, over his heart.

Before he could say any more, the lioness started purring, and Lance was forced into a strange darkness. It was like he passed out, but he could still feel the water running past his body, and the air around his head. But the most prominent thing was this new feeling. He didn’t know what it was, and the only word that came to mind when describing it was blue. And how he could describe a feeling perfectly with a color, he didn’t know. But he did know that Blue is the perfect word the describe it.

Then he was pushed back into reality, and he let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. He looked back at his chest, where the lioness still was. Then it all clicked.

She’s connected to his hydrokinesis, she’s the blue feeling, and such a wonderful feeling it is. She is the strange yet fitting explanation for all of this.

“Hey Blue,” he said to the lioness, and the name rolled off the tongue perfectly, and it fit her so well. She agreed, apparently, because she purred happily as she crawled down to his stomach. Lance reached a finger down and petted her, smiling.

“But how are you gonna hide from people?” he asked, because the idea just popped into his mind. It’s not like he could show off his living tattoo, or any tattoo for that matter. She’ll have to hide.

Blue answered by crawling down until she was hiding on his hip, under his swim shorts.

“Oh, yeah,” Lance said with a chuckle. “Duh.”

And he kept speaking as she moved down to his ankle. “It’ll be cool though, having you here. It’s someone to talk to.”

And he could swear he saw Blue smile.

<~•~>

It’s fun sometimes, having a secret. You just go about your daily life, and no one knows somethings that’s a big part of your life. That’s how Lance feels now at school.

_No one knows a lioness lives on my skin. No one knows she is connected to my hydrokinesis. No one knows about my hydrokinesis._

He remembers when he would think about it, and the thought of a possible mind reader. If hydrokinesis is possible, then mind reading could be, right? But no, nobody in his class made any reaction to him thinking about it, so he was fine.

So he thought about it a lot. He could feel Blue on his skin, on his thigh (her favorite spot apparently). She was there to calm him down during tests, to laugh at his jokes, to encourage him to talk to a cute classmate. And none of this happened with words, but with feelings. He would feel a wave of blue calmness, or blue laughter, or blue encouragement, whenever he needed it. He became so used to it that he wondered how he survived life without her.

“So,” he started one afternoon, after all homework was done. “Where did you come from?”

He looked to Blue, who was on his wrist, and she only sent him blue reassurance. He’ll figure it all out in time.

“Fine,” he responded, slightly disappointed but not wanting to show it. “Anything even more magical you can do?”

Blue seemed to take that as a challenge, because she came out from under his sleeve and rested on his hand before glowing. And not a glow that made her look white, it was a glow that actually emitted light. Cool.

Lance rested his hand on his bed and looked away from the light. Soon enough, the light was gone and he looked back to find.

“Oh my God!” he exclaimed in awe. Because sitting by his now blank hand was a blue furred cat with bright yellow eyes. And the eyes told him who the cat is.

“Blue,” he said, drawing out the vowels. He started petting her, and she nuzzled into his hand. “This is so cool.”

She crawled into his lap and he kept petting her. “How are you doing this?” he asked, but she was busy nuzzling into his hand.

He would’ve asked more questions, but a knocking sound interrupted him. His sister Veronica opened his door before she even finished knocking.

“Lance? Do you have my- oh my gosh!” she exclaimed when she saw the sapphire blue cat in his lap.

Lance’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “Ronnie, I- uh- um I-”

“What did you do?” Veronica hissed, closing the door behind her as she entered. “Mom’s gonna kill you!”

“It’s Blue,” Lance said. She and the rest of his family knew about the tattoo, it’s not like he could keep it from them.

“Wait, what?” Veronica asked, looking to Blue, then Lance.

“Yeah, I just figured out she can turn into a real cat,” Lance said, his lips quirking into a half smile as he pet Blue.

“That’s… awesome, actually,” she said, closing the distance between her and her brother and joining him on the bed.

“Freaky too,” Lance said, him and Veronica looking back at Blue, who seemed to enjoy the attention she was being given.

“We have to show everyone else,” Veronica said.

“They’ll freak out,” Lance said.

“You can control water and have a magic tattoo, they won’t be surprised by this,” Veronica said, and Lance could admit, she was totally right.

So he and Veronica brought Blue, laying in his arms, to show their parents and brothers.

“Woah!” Luis said when he saw Blue, immediately petting her.

“Wow!” Marco said, doing the same.

“How did you do this?” Luis asked.

“I didn’t do anything, it was all Blue!” Lance said, smiling widely.

“What was all Blue?” his mother asked as she entered the room with his father. Then they saw the cat their children were huddled around, in Lance’s arms.

“What is that?” their father asked, him and his wife stepping closer.

“Blue!” Lance said happily.

“How?” his mother asked, and Lance explained what had happened to all of them.

“Your magic tattoo is also a magic cat, weird,” Marco said, making all of them laugh.

And they all grew to love Blue. She’s magic, so they don’t have to worry about feeding her or cleaning up messes. Mostly when she wasn’t in Lance’s skin she was by him, and Lance found out she liked sitting on his shoulders. Surprisingly, she fits well and it’s rather comfortable. But the best part had to be when Lance found out a whole other part of Blue.

He was very, very bored one day. He was laying in his bed, Blue curled up on his stomach. He had done all homework, chores, and no one was available to hang out. He was left with only the cat curled up on his chest. He reached out and pet her on her right leg, a strange spot but her favorite one.

“Do you have anything to entertain me with?” he asked. He didn’t expect an answer, but he got one as she stood and got off his stomach and sat on the end of his bed.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked, sitting up and crossing his legs. 

He watched as Blue faded into less of a blue cat and more of a white cat shaped blob on his bed. His face grew concerned and his eyes widened, but he stayed quiet.

The blob grew and stretched until Blue faded back to- well, blue. Only she wasn’t a cat anymore.

A sapphire blue _lioness_ sat in Lance’s bed instead of a cat.

“What the fuck,” he said quietly. He leaned forward toward her, curious and scared. She leaned her head forward toward him as his hand hesitantly reached out. Then his hand was on her head, and Lance was feeling an unexpected coolness, like when you dip your hands in cold water, but only the surface of your palm.

But then she was purring, and Lance felt the rumble. It was strangely soothing, and he felt as if he was submerged underwater, the tingling feeling of water all around him, even though his skin was completely dry.

“Woah,” he whispered. This was all just so weird yet… it feels completely natural to him. Like where his is right now is totally normal and this is all a daily thing he experiences.

And even though he’s felt weird and awkward with hydrokinesis and a magic tattoo that turns into a cat and a _lioness_ before, he somehow knows it’s all a part of him. That this is him, and he is this.

Then Marco was barging into his room, seeing the lioness, and screaming at a volume and pitch that could shatter windows.

Okay, it’s still weird, but it’s him, and he loves it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so im sorry this is so late I am such a procrastinator and I was thinking of another fic idea (( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)). Also the Pidge was chapter was so rushed I wanna rewrite it after I finish the next chapter. Speaking of, the next chapter features our favorite mullet-rocking, fingerless gloves-wearing alien, so be sure to read it! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter, be sure to comment and leave kudos! <3


	3. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holding his left hand in front of his right to stop any small breezes, he snapped his fingers on his right hand.
> 
> Small sparks flew from his fingers, but no flame stayed. He checked for any watchers (none thankfully), furrowed his brows and tried again, trying to feel that familiar warmth he felt when he did this accidentally. Still no flame, only sparks.
> 
> Again, again, again.
> 
> No flame, no flame, no flame.
> 
> He growled softly. “Come on. Just do it.”
> 
> He angrily snapped his fingers. He just wanted something to go his way, alright!?
> 
> The flame that emerged from the tip of his pointer finger was beautiful. His eyes widened.
> 
> _It worked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY FOR ANOTHER LATE CHAPTER IM JUST A H U G E PROCRASTINATOR!!
> 
> But really, this was originally going to be the first chapter, as it inspired the rest of the fic, so enjoy!

Keith double checked that no one- _no one_ \- was watching. He huddled, knees pressed to his chest, in a dark corner of his room that hopefully won’t stay dark for long.

Then he tried what he accidentally kept doing, but on purpose this time. Holding his left hand in front of his right to stop any small breezes, he snapped his fingers on his right hand.

Small sparks flew from his fingers, but no flame stayed. He checked for any watchers (none thankfully), furrowed his brows and tried again, trying to feel that familiar warmth he felt when he did this accidentally. Still no flame, only sparks.

Again, again, _again_.

No flame, no flame, _no flame_.

He growled softly. “Come on. Just do it.”

He angrily snapped his fingers, forgetting about checking. He just wanted something to go his way, alright!?

The flame that emerged from the tip of his pointer finger was beautiful. His eyes widened.

_It worked._

He bent his fingers so only the pointer was up, slowly in case the flame died. It was rather small. Hopefully what he was about to try would change that. He pointed his finger to the pointer finger of his other hand, and smiled wider than he had in a long time when it lit up too.

He did it again and again until all the fingers on his left hand were on fire. He smiled somehow wider. He did it! He actually did it, and on purpose this time! This was the first step in controlling it. Finally!

He was moving to light his other right fingers when there was a loud knocking on his door.

“Keith! You locked the door!” It was the other boy who he shared his room with.

“Just a second!” Keith called back, hastily blowing out his fingers. He thought about how he’d have to find a place to work on this privately as he opened up the door.

<~•~>

He found a place. It wasn’t ideal, seeing as the flammable trees in the middle of a clearing in the woods wasn’t the best place to practice pyrokinesis, but it was better than huddled in a corner. Especially now that it was growing stronger.

He had learned to control it quickly. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice. It would start up at the worst of times, and he always escaped to his room, so his roommate always complained about the smell of smoke. Keith somehow convinced him he was just imagining things.

But he had too many close calls, so it was to the woods he went. He was fourteen now, and he first successfully did this at twelve. Two years of pyrokinesis, and he still was a little in shock.

No one else could do this, it’s the stuff of fantasy. It was another thing that separated him from everyone else. First his quietness around all the loud children, they all thought he was weird and emo. Then he lost his parents, but he lived in an orphanage, so he wasn’t too lost. He was definitely reminded how weird he was when he watched tv and saw happy families he knew he wouldn’t be a part of.

And then this, the fire. He was a genuine freak now.

But when he was alone, with no eyes to watch him and he didn’t have to hide…

It was beautiful.

The fire traveled from the tips of his fingers to his forearms, the flames tickling him deliciously.

He chuckled at the feeling, then he saw something he didn’t expect. He thought it was his head messing with him- maybe the fire- but no, the smoke was unmistakably coming from his mouth.

Smoke came out of his mouth. What kind of dragon shit is this?

“Whatever, I’ll figure it out,” Keith said to himself, smoke floating out of his mouth the whole time.

He liked the sound of that. He’ll be able to find out more about this, not have someone else make him do it or have a deadline. This was one of the few things in his control.

And it made him think. If one of the meaner boys at the orphanage _somehow_ found his food a _little_ overcooked, then it wouldn’t be too bad.

Spoiler: the meanest one did. And for the rest of the day he loudly complained about his lunch being burnt to a crisp.

Okay, maybe Keith went a little overboard. But it was fun, and fun is nice.

<~•~>

Getting into the Garrison? Good. Feeling awkward and out of place at his dream school? Bad. Getting to the top of his class? Good. Somehow accidentally starting a rivalry with another student? Bad. Meeting Shiro, the closest thing to a brother he’s ever had? Good! Getting kicked out of the Garrison because he freaked out when Shiro went missing? Bad!

Overall, life had a weird way of balancing things out. And when there’s balance, everything’s neutral. Like how Keith isn’t really feeling… anything right now. He was just alone, and after all the stuff at the Garrison and then finding himself in the desert, he wasn’t thinking about anything other than find a shelter and a food source.

He had found an abandoned shack, and moved in. His pyrokinesis allowed him to keep the place warm for the cold nights, which he learned he is unnaturally sensitive to. Great. Other than that, things were normal. Well, about as normal as things could be. That’s when the lioness showed up.

He was building a fire outside of his shack when he felt a strange energy inside him, like there was a fire in his bones, in his soul, burning but not hurting him. He just sat there and felt it move through his body, down to his wrist. The energy was very powerful then it disappeared all at once. Keith looked to his wrist.

A small red tattoo of a lioness was curled up on the inside of his right wrist.

“Huh?” He tried to rub it off, but when he touched it it moved, like Keith had poked it and it actually felt it.

“What?” he said, poking more gently at the lioness this time. It stood and moved along his arm, and Keith could only watch in awe.

It traveled along his arm, up to his shoulder, and then down his chest. He quickly moved his shirt collar to see where it was going.

It stopped on the left side of his chest, over his heart. It curled up, and started purring. Keith felt it vibrate through him, then everything was fading to black.

He felt a spark of energy, and the color red came to mind. The purring was still there, and it grew into a growl, a low rumble in his mind that made him feel something for the first time in months. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew he didn’t want to go back to nothingness.

His eyes opened and he gasped, not realizing he had been holding his breath.

And somehow he knew that this feeling, this living lioness tattoo, it all was connected to his pyrokinesis, and that it was more than he thought.

And it took him a few weeks, but he also learned that his tattoo- which he named Red- isn’t just a tattoo.

He was test driving his motorcycle far out into the desert when it broke down. He couldn’t fix it without his tools, and it was too far to drag it or get tools. He was lost.

He sat on the ground to try and see if he could fix the problem, and it was no surprise that he couldn’t. He leaned back on his arms, palms on the ground.

“Shit,” he groaned. “What the fuck do I do?”

Then there was a familiar weird feeling. It was on his right arm, on the side of his shoulder, where Red tended to stay. He took off his jacket to look at the lioness.

He watched her climb down his arm and to the center of the back of his hand.

Keith raised an eyebrow, then the lioness started glowing. His eyes widened as the tattoo disappeared and a real red lioness appeared next to his hand.

“What the fresh tit just happened,” he said in awe.

The lioness only stared at him.

“Red?” he asked, and the lioness purred softly, and Keith knew it was a confirmation he was right.

His magic tattoo just came to life.

“What?” he asked, hoping she somehow had answers.

The lioness turned away from him and lowered herself to the ground, and Keith was shocked about the fact that he knew exactly what to do. Did they have some sort of mental connection?

He listened to Red, and climbed onto her back, and she stood. He held on tight as she started running. It wasn’t long after that he was back at his shack.

“Woah,” he breathed. Red purred.

“How?” he asked, getting off her back. Their weird mental connection told him he didn’t need to know just yet through a weird, red, fiery feeling.

He nodded, then she told him what to do again. “Right.”

He gathered his tools, got on her back again, and she brought him to fix his bike, which was easily done as it was only a small but annoying problem.

He tried the ignition, and it roared to life, lion pun intended.

“Okay, it should work now,” he told Red, who had been laying by the bike as Keith fixed it. He got onto the bike and she stood.

And as Keith drove, she was running next to him. She easily kept up with him, so he smirked and sped up. She sped up as well, and it soon turned into a race. Keith lost, obviously, because what machine can keep up with a magical lioness?

Nevertheless, he loves her, and it’s nice to talk out loud and actually get a response, even if it’s in the form of a purr or growl.

He would be up late working on something when Red would drag him to bed, letting him lay against her as her purrs lulled him to sleep. She jumped to and from her tattoo form to make sure he ate and showered. She was like a mother to Keith, and he didn’t mind at all.

<~•~>

Keith was used to Red jumping between his skin and the real world, but sometimes it was a bit much. She just took up too much space. Especially when he found that there was a market of sorts near his shack.

“I can’t go in there with a giant red lion following me,” Keith said to Red, trying to get her to become a tattoo again.

Red didn’t respond, only stayed sitting outside the shack’s porch.

“Come on, Red,” Keith said, pulling his sleeve up as he walked next to her. He showed her his bare forearm.

Still no response. She only stared.

“Please,” he said.

Nope.

“Oh come on!” he growled.

Then she stood. But she didn’t go back under his skin. Instead, she turned white. It looked like a hole in reality, that was the only way Keith could describe it. Then the hole shrunk until it faded back to red.

A cat. Red turned into a cat.

“Woah,” Keith breathed. Red meowed.

So Keith and Red go to the market, which is good in Keith’s opinion. Even the most people hating person misses human interaction after enough time.

Some people give him looks, but he assumes all these people know each other and are surprised by the new kid. That or they’re wondering how and why the firetruck red cat is said shade of red.

He is occasionally asked about it as he shops around, but he just shrugs and tells them he found her like that. The people shrug back. Apparently a red cat isn’t the strangest thing they’ve seen.

But it works. He becomes known as The Boy With The Red Cat And Homemade Motorcycle, and joins in the market’s daily routine. He knows many people, not by name, but by how they look, like they do to him. There’s Blue Haired Girl With And Red Tattoos (Who Is Basically An Older Sister), Guy Who Always Wears A Different Hawaiian Shirt (And Swears Worse Than A Sailor), and Person Covered In Piercings (Who Is Surprisingly Very Precious), to name a few. It’s cliche, all of it. An outcast, pyrokinetic boy with his magic cat in a desert shack, surrounded by different weird people.

He loves it so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to tell me what you thought in the comments! I love feedback

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is both the beginning of a series and a Pidge birthday thing, which is why it's rushed lol
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and please don't forget to comment, feedback always helps!


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